


A Guide to Who's Right

by SweetSorcery



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Canon, Coming Out, Fluff, Kissing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-09
Updated: 2011-08-09
Packaged: 2017-10-22 10:17:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/237027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SweetSorcery/pseuds/SweetSorcery
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You can learn a lot in a library, but it's not always from books.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Guide to Who's Right

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Harry is 14, but nothing more explicit than kissing happens here.
> 
> Disclaimer: The canon is owned by JK Rowling, Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books, Warner Bros. etc. etc. and so on. I own nothing herein except the bits conspicuously absent from canon.
> 
> Archiving: Absolutely nowhere except here, and not in translated form either.
> 
> Author's Notes: This was written several years ago, like many of my HP stories, but I'm polishing them as I post them.

"Thanks, Cedric."

A book landed at Harry's feet, and the ladder Cedric Diggory had climbed to deposit said book high up on a shelf wobbled dangerously.

"Oh, bugger, I'm sorry!" Harry was mortified. His unexpected appearance had almost landed Cedric at his feet. The thought made him blush, and he cursed his inability to stop blushing in the Hufflepuff's presence. "I didn't mean to--"

"No no, it's okay!" Cedric assured him quickly once he had both feet back on solid ground. He was smiling disarmingly and looked barely ruffled.

Harry blinked at him for a good minute, trying to recall why he'd followed the Hufflepuff to the library in the first place. It occurred to him that Cedric was being a really good sport, not rushing him; he seemed content to just look at Harry and wait for him to get a grip.

"I came to thank you," Harry finally remembered. "For the lake." He closed his eyes. "I mean, what you did for me in the lake." This was not going well.

Cedric looked just as patient, but considerably more amused, than he had a moment ago. "Yes?" he prompted.

"Did you tell Dumbledore?" Harry asked. "I mean, obviously, you did. No one else could have done. No one would have known." He took a deep breath, pulling himself together. It was idiotic that thanking Cedric was flustering him more than asking Cho to the Yule Ball. He would just have to get it all out at once and hope it would make some sort of sense. "Thanks for telling him that I got there first and tried to release the others and getting me second place."

The smile on Cedric's face was luminous. "That's all right, Harry. It was the least I could do." He reached out, hesitated a moment, then cupped Harry's right shoulder. "We Hogwarts champions have to stick together, yes?"

"I... yeah, that's... that's true," Harry agreed.

"Library closes in five minutes!" Madam Pince called out, her voice easily covering the distance between the exit and the far end of the library where Harry and Cedric were. The only other students around were two Ravenclaws already standing at the issuing counter.

Harry smiled quickly. Then he motioned to turn and leave, but he realised Cedric's hand was still on his shoulder. He looked at it in confusion, and Cedric drew it back as if he'd burned it and smiled bashfully. "I guess I'd better--"

"Time to--" Harry said at the same moment. He suddenly remembered he'd made Cedric drop his book and crouched down to pick it up, only to smack his forehead into Cedric's on the way down. Clearly, the memory had caught up with them at the same time. Harry overbalanced and fell on his backside.

"Oh Harry, I'm so sorry!" Cedric was kneeling in front of him, and his long fingers were suddenly on Harry's face, carefully brushing back his hair and ghosting over his forehead.

Feeling for bruises or lumps, Harry assumed. He shivered when the touch fluttered across his scar. "M'okay," he croaked. He felt warm all over, and flustered didn't even begin to cover his state of mind anymore. Though it was hardly his fault, what with Cedric gently patting all over his head as if he was checking a rare piece of porcelain for cracks. And then there were Cedric's eyes, which went from concerned to intense when he realized how Harry was staring at him. The seeking fingers stopped at Harry's right temple.

"You're a fourth year," Cedric informed him huskily, which struck Harry as awfully random, but he couldn't deny the fact, so he nodded. This made Cedric sigh and whisper, "Oh, Merlin."

"Are you okay?" Harry had to ask. Something about the uncertainty in Cedric's demeanour was making him feel the older and wiser of the two, and he felt he should offer advice if he could.

"No, I don't think so," Cedric said. He snorted softly as if amused at himself, but he kept looking at Harry intently.

"You're not sick, are you?" Harry asked, worriedly.

"That's debatable, I guess."

Wishing Cedric would stop speaking in riddles, Harry tilted his head to look at him questioningly, and was stunned when Cedric's eyes softened and he traced his fingers down to cup his cheek. They felt so... warm. Nice. Not strange at all. In fact, before Harry knew it, he was leaning into the touch and closing his eyes.

"Oh, Harry," Cedric whispered so reverently, Harry opened his eyes again at once and gasped at Cedric's expression.

The grey eyes had dropped to Harry's lips, and Cedric looked as flushed as Harry felt, and then he licked his lips and his thumb strayed from Harry's cheek to his mouth where he pushed, just a little. Harry parted his lips against Cedric's thumb, and it caressed his lower lip, sliding across the velvet cushion until it reached the corner of his mouth, and then Cedric was leaning in, and Harry was meeting him halfway - which wasn't far, because there had been mere inches between them to begin with - and then Cedric was kissing him.

The sigh Harry couldn't hold back must have been silent, or swallowed by Cedric, but Harry couldn't be sure. His ears weren't really working; there was just a weird rushing sound. And he couldn't see because his eyes had fluttered shut at the first touch of those lips against his. But he could certainly feel, and it felt... amazing. Why had no one told him that kissing a boy would feel like this? Or was it just kissing Cedric?

Yes. Yes, that had to be it. Because surely, no other boy would cup his face so tenderly or taste like cherries and chocolate pudding. Or... Harry mewled softly in protest when Cedric stopped kissing him in favour of sliding his lips over his jaw and nibbling on his neck. But oh, that was certainly nice too; the clean scent of Cedric's shampoo filled his nose, and the tender lips on his neck were suckling distractingly. Down on one side, then back up the other. And this time, when Cedric's mouth covered Harry's again, Harry made an effort to kiss back properly. Not that he knew what he was doing, but he copied Cedric, and when he felt the tip of Cedric's tongue tentatively part his lips, he met it hesitantly. Suddenly, Cedric's tongue filled his mouth, and all Harry could think to do was to suck on it. Which should have been disgusting, but it was so, _so_ good.

Cedric must have agreed, because he groaned low in his throat, and the sound made Harry shiver all over. He clutched at Cedric's shoulders, feeling as if he was tipping backwards. But Cedric was still just as close, and Harry realized hazily that he was bending backwards the more Cedric was leaning over him, and he was very nearly on his back beneath Cedric. He whimpered. For once, he dearly wished for a Creevey flashing his camera; he wanted a picture of them like this for... um, later.

The whimper must have done it. Brought Cedric to his senses. Because all at once, Harry had lost those lips, the warmth, the cherries and pudding, and was left to hover just above the library floor with Cedric's arm around him holding him up.

"Merlin, Harry, I'm so--"

"Not sorry, I hope." Harry gave Cedric what he hoped passed for a stern look. Though considering how dazed he felt, it was more likely that of a crosseyed, lovesick calf.

Cedric blinked, then smiled slowly, and Harry couldn't help notice that his lips looked as puffy and red as overripe berries. He wanted nothing more than to get back to the kissing.

"No," Cedric determined. "Not sorry at all."

"Good." Harry grinned. "Great."

"Perfect." Cedric grinned back.

"Closing time!" Madam Pince announced shrilly. "Everybody out." Her voice was getting closer, and quickly.

They scrambled to their feet in a bit of a panic and had only just managed to stand up and straighten themselves out when she reached them.

"We're leaving," Harry assured her breathlessly. "Right now."

"Yes. Goodnight, Madam Pince," Cedric added, looking terribly guilty.

She frowned at them, then looked pointedly down at the dropped and entirely forgotten book.

Cedric hissed softly and picked it up, but not quite quickly enough to hide the title from Harry, nor probably from Pince. _Witch or Wizard? A Guide to Who's Right for You._

Pince huffed and wandered off to tidy away a few books left behind on desks.

Harry peered up at Cedric. "Have you figured it out?" he asked softly, motioning to the book.

Cedric, though blushing, nodded. "Oh yes."

"Me too," Harry admitted. When his heart lept at the way this made Cedric beam, he couldn't help but think there was nothing life couldn't teach you better than books.

 

THE END


End file.
